[Taxacom] Hydatellales sister to Nymphaeales

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
     With the publication of the Hydatellaceae article in Nature today, I 
obviously need to update my classification of basal angiosperms (Class 
Magnoliopsida).  I could only read the first paragraph (the rest of the 
article is rather expensive to obtain on the internet), but clearly their 
results show Hydatellales to be a sister group to Nymphaeales.  Although 
Peter Stevens' website now  combines them into one Order, I have always 
recognized Hydatellales as an independent Order (NOT in Poales), and I'm 
reluctant to combine it with Nymphaeales (and making them sister Orders 
shows the same cladistic relationship anyway).

     Immediately below is the classification of Magnoliopsida which I 
presented here on Taxacom (as part of my angiosperm classification in 2004). 
  That is followed by my present classification (with the addition of 
Hydatellales, and with Amborellales coded as an independent clade rather 
than sister to Nymphaeales, which was a minority viewpoint anyway).  After 
that is my classification of Family Nymphaeaceae, which I have privately 
circulated (and post here in a public forum for the first time).  I prefer 
to combine Euryale with Victoria, rather than dumping them both into 
Nymphaea (as strict cladists would no doubt prefer).


1 Magnoliopsida%% (basal dicots)
     1  "Archaefructales" (fossil)
     2  Amborellales
     B  Nymphaeales
     3  Trimeniales
     B  Austrobaileyales
     C  Illiciales
     4  Ceratophyllales
     B  {{Rosopsidea}} (= eudicots)
     5  Chloranthales
     6  {{Liliopsida}} (= monocots)
     7  Piperales (incl. Hydnoraceae)
     8  Canellales
     9  Laurales
    10  Magnoliales


1  Magnoliopsida%% (basal dicots)
      1  Archaefructales (fossil)
      2  Amborellales
      3  Hydatellales
      B  Nymphaeales
      4  Trimeniales
      B  Austrobaileyales
      C  Illicales
      5  Ceratophyllales (etc.)...


Nymphaeaceae
   1  Nuphar
   2  Barclaya
   3  Ondinea
   4  Nymphaea%
  _a_ Euryale (sensu lato)
         1  E. (Euryale) newsalemae
         B  E. (Euryale) ferox
         2  E. (Microvictoria) svitkoana
         3  E. (Victoria) cruziana
         4  E. (Victoria) amazonica
----------------------------------
NOTES on Nymphaeaceae classification:  Given the similar flower structure of 
subgenera Microvictoria and Victoria, one might be tempted to combine them.  
However, such a grouping could turn out to be paraphyletic with respect to 
subgenus Euryale, and I don't like paraphyletic subgenera.  Furthermore, 
such a grouping could even be polyphyletic according to some workers who 
claim that Microvictoria could be stem Nymphaeales (not in Nymphaeaceae at 
all), although I suspect that
their molecular clocks are probably just screwed up.
Also, there is the possibility that genus Nuphar should be split off once 
again as Family Nupharaceae.  It is quite different from the others, and at 
least one analysis has Family Cabombaceae splitting off between them.  This 
could indicate that the proposed synapomorphies linking Nuphar to the others 
are actually symplesiomorphies inherited from stem Nymphaeales (and then 
lost in Family Cabombaceae).  We shall see.

  -----Cheers,
            Ken Kinman

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